$1.85 million civil lawsuit follows new Texas special education director

Texas' special education director is facing allegations from her old job in a small Oregon school district that she tried to cover up sexual abuse of a special education student. A civil suit was filed against her last Tuesday.

Texas' new special education director is facing allegations that she tried to cover up sexual abuse of a 6-year-old student at her previous job as special education director for a small school district in Oregon.

Laurie Kash, who was hired by the Texas Education Agency in mid-August, was sued Nov. 14 by Michelle Eastham and Terrianne MacEllven, two instructional assistants at Rainier School District, north of Portland on the Oregon-Washington border.

According to the $1.85 millioncivil complaint, in October 2015, Eastham and MacEllven heard from a 6-year-old in their special education classroom that she had been physically and sexually abused by a high school boy. The suit states that Kash and her husband Michael Carter, superintendent of the school district, forbade them from reporting the abuse to the state or police, although instructional assistants are mandatory reporters in the state of Oregon.

Eastham and MacEllven reported the girl's statement to the state anyway and said Kash and Carter intimidated and harassed them in retaliation, the suit states.

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